Abigail Wilson

I am a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Prof. Pawel Swietach’s group. Our research is investigating intracellular H+ ion control in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure in a project funded by the British Heart Foundation. My research utilises confocal microscopy and live cell fluorescence imaging to quantify pathophysiological changes in cardiac cells at the functional level. as well as biochemical techniques to further explore protein alterations at the molecular level.

I completed my PhD in Prof. Rebecca Sitsapesan’s laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford. My PhD research focused on investigating how single-point mutations to the cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR2), the main intracellular Ca2+ release channel in the heart, lead to life threatening arrhythmias. I am an expert in single-channel electrophysiology techniques to elucidate alterations to ligand sensitivity, gating kinetics, phosphorylation status and single-channel conductance of RyR2. This research was funded by a British Heart Foundation 4-Year PhD Studentship.